May 13, 2010
-
Optimizing the Frontpage…
We’ve just rolled some minor updates to the frontpage to try to optimize a few things.
before
after
In case you’re having trouble spotting the specific changes, here’s what’s new:
- Showing Longer Titles in the 4-Picture Module – a lot of you pointed out that titles were regularly getting cut off in that module, so we’ve made the text smaller and moved from just two lines of text to three lines of text for each title. Now you should be able to see the full title for almost all the posts.
- Moving Top Blogs a Little Higher on the Page – as you can see from the before & after screenshots, the Top Blogs module ends up a little higher on the page after these latest tweaks
But wait, you say… how can you add longer titles without pushing top blogs *down*? Well, we started by hiding those little labels that used to show above the pictures (Parenting, Dating, Beauty, etc.). But because some of you mentioned that you liked those labels, we’ve used some CSS trickery to make them available – just mouse over any of the pictures and you’ll see the label!
Just keepin’ y’all in the loop.
Comments (37)
Great stuff! (:
Thanks for letting us know.
Minor but welcomed changes…
That’s great. Now kill the damned spammers please!
Awesome!
Cool.
The labels aren’t always accurate though [http://www.mancouch.com/726321019/is-mancouch-just-for-humor/?=itemrelated&cref=relposts-35509396].
You guys rock.
Cool.
@A_NY_Zone61 - haha you’re right. We struggled to find a label for mancouch… At the time we chose the label, the vast majority of posts on mancouch seemed to be “humor”, but some posts obviously don’t fit…
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to suggest a one-word descriptive label for mancouch (note: ideally it’d be something other than just “mancouch”).
If you can think of something more fitting than “humor”, I’ll change it today!
I do like being in the loop, so thank you.
…Hey, that’s me in the screenshots!
@Roadlesstaken - you’re famous!
alrighty, its the little changes that slowly make the site more enjoyable. now I don’t have to read the url link to read the title before clicking them.
@marc - I honestly can’t think of one at this time, lol…I’ll get back to you.
@marc - What’s going on with the Metros?
@A_NY_Zone61 - ah, we just took the metros directories offline for the time being… it comprised some of our oldest, least stable and by far least *used* pages. We’ll loop back to metros (or some reincarnation of location-focused stuff) as we continue to move through and clean up all of Xanga.
@marc - Oh okay, thanks man.
Quick suggestion. There seems to be a fair amount of white space after the From The Xanga Team module. What if the Featured Weblog section expanded the amount of entries that appear on the front page, so instead of 5 it’s like 8 or something? That will help eliminate some of that empty space.
Great job as usual.
@marc - Marc, is there still a link to metros that works? I need to find someone from Arizona for a post.
@TheTheologiansCafe - it’s totally down for now… I realize it’s less direct, but you might want to try a google search like, “state:arizona site:xanga.com”
Great job guys!
It’s a good change!
Looks good to me – nice job. I do wish there was a bit more emphasis on the featured blogs on the right side.
Very nice.
Nicely done.
While I do appreciate this optimization, I’d still much rather see more pressing changes such as an updated tag system or more organized searching for xanga themes.
@Flying_Heart - I couldn’t agree more about themes – that directory needs search! We’re working on everything, actually – cleaning up and optimizing the entire site… Just wanted to give some quick updates along the way.
now if only facebook would follow suit lol. minor insignificant changes are nice but facebook does so many at once it drives people nuts! Thank you @TheXangaTeam
Nice
Is Xanga facing problems now?
Whenever I load my editor, a popup box would appear asking me to load jQuery.
Is it just me?
your spam bots are ridiculous.
Ohhhhh, I can think of a few one word labels for Mancouch. You want to hear them?
That’s a great use of available space, great work!
I like the little arrows to choose the next round of blogs too
Yay for changes.
niice…
thANX fOR LEttiNG US kNO…VERY GREAtfUL…